SEATTLE — Penalties derailed Kingston’s chance for a victory in the final football game of the regular season against the Foster Bulldogs.
When the final seconds ticked off the clock, Foster held on defeating Kingston (0-8 overall) 29-19 Friday night in South Seattle.
Kingston had its chances to capture its first win.
With the Buccaneers trailing 15-13 early in the fourth quarter, KHS quarterback Paul Bagala led the Bucs on a drive toward the promised land of the endzone. Bagala appeared to give his team the lead on a seven-yard touchdown run giving his squad a 19-15 advantage.
But a yellow flag came out of the pockets of a referee.
A offensive face mask penalty was called, pushing the Bucs back to the 25-yard line. On second and goal Bagala was called for intentional grounding resulting in a loss of a massive chunk of yardage. The flag was thrown from the spot of the foul resulting in Kingston facing a third and goal, 61 yards from the endzone.
“We completed a pass to Ian Brown for 28 yards on third down,” said Buccaneers coach Dan Novick. “On fourth down Bernie Anderson caught the ball and got stopped at the one-yard line. He hit the pylon and we thought he had gotten in for the touchdown from the sideline.”
On the Bulldogs’ ensuing position, they drove the length of the field scoring a touchdown to put the game out of the Buccaneers reach.
“That drive was a two touchdown swing,” Novick said. “We didn’t score and they scored.”
Even though the Buccaneers didn’t come back across the Puget Sound with a victory, they probably played their most complete game of the season, Novick said.
“It was a back-and-forth game. It was close. Both of the defenses held each other down in the first half,” he said. “We finally had a game where we played good defensively. We played with confidence. We forced them to punt three times in the first half.”
Foster held a 7-6 lead at halftime.
Novick said he was disappointed the first senior class in the history of Kingston football wasn’t rewarded with a victory this year.
“I’m undoubtedly disappointed the seniors didn’t a chance to get a win this year,” he said. “They fought hard and deserved to get a win. They did a great job.”
The Kingston football program is off to a good start, Novick said.
“This group of seniors has established the foundation of this program,” he said. “There’s going to be great days ahead for this team. After the game the seniors said they wanted nothing more than for next year’s team to have a winning season.”
Following the game players and coaches milled around tWe locker room reflecting upon the season and looking toward next year.
“We talked as a team for about an hour after the game in the locker room,” Novick said. “We feel like we did a lot of good things this year, and feel good about the progress we’ve made. We have a young team and are excited about next year.”